He starts out his column with two people who are guilty of cheating--or so the evidence strongly suggests--Michael Rasmussen and Barry Bonds.

By the end of his column he is talking about how "deeply polarized nations that devote... energy to hunting... real villains and convenient scapegoats... descend into.. despair and resentment that inevitably lead to even greater destruction..." and about the "vindictive bloggers... eager to push the mainstream media... off a stage that they want to occupy smash reputations with abandon... contribute to a general deepening of cynicism... at no perceived cost to themselves..."

Is there any way to read this other than that Hoagland regards himself and his peers as cheaters on the same moral level as Rasmussen and Bonds? And is desperately searching for reasons that nobody should make him publicly 'fess up?

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He starts out his column with two people who are guilty of cheating--or so the evidence strongly suggests--Michael Rasmussen and Barry Bonds.

By the end of his column he is talking about how "deeply polarized nations that devote... energy to hunting... real villains and convenient scapegoats... descend into.. despair and resentment that inevitably lead to even greater destruction..." and about the "vindictive bloggers... eager to push the mainstream media... off a stage that they want to occupy smash reputations with abandon... contribute to a general deepening of cynicism... at no perceived cost to themselves..."

Is there any way to read this other than that Hoagland regards himself and his peers as cheaters on the same moral level as Rasmussen and Bonds? And is desperately searching for reasons that nobody should make him publicly 'fess up?